The Queen receives a grant-in-aid to cover the costs of most of the royal property and palaces.

Last year it was £15.5m. The properties listed on the right are known as the Occupied Royal Palaces or the Estate. Some 1,000 people work in these building.
The Queen invites appoximately 70,000 guests to the Palaces every year. In previous years tourist numbers were higher still. But the umber of visitors dramatically halved after September 11.

Key: Spending has increased Spending has decreased

The Occupied Palaces:Buckingham PalaceSt James’s PalaceClarence HouseMarlborough House MewsKensington Palace (residential and office areas)Windsor Castle and buildings in the Home and Great Parks at Windsor

Income from visiting tourists

2001-02

2000-01

Admissions etc

£850,000

£2.080m

Property costs

The expenditure for the year to 31 March 2002 was £15.52m, up on the previous year’s figure of £15.29m.

Maintenance is the biggest single cost at nearly £10m. Some of this was offset by the £850,000 from visitor admission fees.

Redeveloping the kitchens at Buckingham Palace cost £3.16m. The accounts says this will be paid for from admission fees to Windsor Castle.

The Post Office no longer supplies its services free to the Royal Household, an added cost of £690,000.

Property costs

2001-02

2000-01

Projects & maintenance

£9.99m

£11.1m

Less visitor contributions

£850,000

£2.1m

Supervision

£1.11m

£1.29m

Total maintenance

£10.25m

£10.32m

Utilities

£1.67m

£1.42m

Fire, health, safety

£964,000

£964,000

Non-domestic rates

£963,000

£767,000

Court Post Office

£690,000

-

Porters, cleaners

-

£530,000

Furniture

£459,000

£470,000

Gardens

£478,000

£448,000

Central admin

£381,000

£407,000

Craftsmen

£45,000

£19,000

Other

£10.25m

£10.32m

Less rent

£375,000

£200,000

Total net spending

15.52m

£15.29m

The Queen's utility bills

She may be the Queen but she still gets quarterly bills through the letterbox for the gas and electricity. Unlike the Queen, our bill doesn't come to a whopping £1.6m.

In the past year the combined electricity bill for the palaces has been marginally cut, although gas has almost doubled, a large part pf the cost being the Climate Change Levy.

Water and sewage charges rose dramatically last year after the discovery of what Buckingham Palace describes as "queries from a water supplier regarding faulty and unread meters which have resulted in incorrect bills".

Utilities costs

Department

2001-02

2000-01

Electricity

£323,000

£333,000

Gas

£334,000

£187,000

Other fuel

£15,000

£17,000

Water/Sewage

£264,000

£135,000

Telephones

£690,000

£660,000

Utilities support

£46,000

£83,000

Total spending

£1.672m

£1.415m

Major costs

There were two projects in the last year which cost more than £150,000 and together made up half the total maintenance budget.

The Buckingham Palace kitchens were improved at a cost of £3.16m, which came out of the grant but on the basis that it would be covered in due course by income from visitor admissions to Windsor Castle.

The new kitchens were opened in November 2001. Part of Windsor Castle was also redecorated at a cost of £151,000 and the work completed last October.
The remaining 405 projects had a total construction cost of £3.4m.

The new Queen’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace, which opened in May 2002, was paid for by the Royal Collection Trust.